A Middle Earth Vacation Or Not
by Lunesca Solsbane
Summary: 10th Walker Story...Arianna goes out riding her horse. Taking a break she wakes up to see a storm coming. After a fatal incident with a tree branch she wakes up to find herself in Middle Earth. BoromierXOc. Rating may change based on story outcome.
1. Chapter 1: A Leisurely Ride Gone Wrong

**Lune**: I suddenly got the urge to write about Lord of the Rings, Middle Earth and a Boromier/OC relationship…I have no clue where I'm going with this or how it's going to come out so everyone just please bear with me.

**Chapter 1: A Leisurely Ride Gone Wrong**

"Come Callisto! Let's run!" I said giving my horse a kick. It was a beautiful spring day and I had decided to go riding on my father's ranch. It wasn't much, just a few hundred acres , but there was plenty of room to ride and I was doing just that.

Dad was busy but he told me I could go riding as long as I went no farther than the other side of the trees that we had growing. There was a storm coming in tonight he said. The trees were beautiful and big enough to ride under.

My Arabian, Callisto, was in the mood for a good run so she didn't need much encouragement. Instantly we went from a gentle trot to flying through the trees. I was enjoying myself greatly, avoiding the branches and just holding on.

After a moment I realized that we were no longer in my mini forest but on the other side. I had promised dad that I wouldn't go too far, but I was thirsty and there was a cool stream that I knew was safe to drink from. Yes, I checked it often.

I turned Callie to the stream and got off tying her to the post that I had placed there for this reason. We both got a nice drink and I leaned against a lone tree.

"Well that was fun, wasn't it girl?" I asked, my eyes closing slightly. "I think we should take a small break before heading back."

I woke later to the sound of far off thunder and my mare nudging me relentlessly. With a gasp I stumbled to my feet and climbed on. "Hurry home Callisto. We have to beat the storm."

Callisto gave a soft whinny and shook her head before side-stepping and taking off towards home. I held on and dodged the oncoming trees as best I could. A flash of lightning cut just above the trees and blinded me. I got my vision back just in time to see a branch come out of nowhere and hit me in the head.

As I was falling of my mare, I could see that she was terrified and not stopping. I sent her a small request to get home safe before I passed out.

**End Chapter 1!**

**Lune**: Okay I know it's short but I wanted to start the next chapter off with her in middle earth. I'll be doing what I can to keep going with this story so please bear with me through it.


	2. Chapter 2: I'm Where?

Lune: I know the first chapter was a little short but here's a second chapter to make up for it. Definitely a longer chapter. I apologize if I misspell a few of the names or titles it's been a while since I've read the books so my memory isn't the best. I'll do better on the later chapters.

Also I forgot to mention this may be slightly mary sueish but I don't give a damn. I'm writing the story the way I want. So if you don't like it then don't read it. If you do then enjoy.

Also please note that in reading this chapter I noticed a few very minor flaws and updated the chapter. Please enjoy!

**Chapter 2: I'm Where?**

I woke up again. This time the sun was setting, my head was throbbing and I could hear others talking in the background about me. I started wondering what was going on and why I was lying on the ground outside this late.

"What should we do Estel? We can't just leave her here." Muttered a gentle voice, not a few feet away from me.

"We will take her to Elrond. Let him decide her fate." Whispered a second, gruffer voice. "We should get moving. It's still not safe here, even this close to Rivendell."

"You may want to introduce yourself to the young lady first." Said the first man with a hint of humor in his voice. "She's awake."

I heard some movement and saw a dark haired man reaching down to touch my forehead. My body was just now starting to go on alert and I flinched a little under his touch. I looked around enough that I was not on my father's ranch anymore and I didn't know either of these men.

"Who are you? Where am I?" I asked managing to sit up even though it made my head hurt worse. I could see a small fire burning just to the right of me. There was the first man on the other side of it. He must have not wanted to spook me or something. He had dark hair, maybe black, grey eyes and pale skin and were his ears pointed? Nah couldn't be…could it?

"My name is Aragorn. I'm also known as Estel or to a few people, Strider." He said helping to support my back. "This is Elrohir, son of Elrond of Rivendell. What shall we call you my lady?"

I froze completely for a moment. 'Aragorn, Elrohir, Rivendell? Oh god I was in Middle Earth. This cannot be happening. Just keep playing it cool. You can't let them know anything.' I thought to myself before coming out of my daze.

I nodded to Elrohir and rub my head a little where I had hit it. I suddenly remembered the complete lists of events before waking up here. "My name is Arianna Winter." I gave a slightly confused look and touched my forehead. There was a bruise and a nice sized bump but no major damage.

"How am I alive? That branch should have taken me out permanently." I muttered to myself but it was obvious they heard me.

"Branch? I'm afraid I don't understand." Aragorn said looking confused. "What happened to you? What were you doing out in the wilderness by yourself?"

"I was out riding my mare and there was a storm." I said slowly trying to remember exactly what happened. "Lightning flashed. I couldn't see what was in front of me. A branch came out of nowhere and knocked me down. I stayed conscious long enough to see my mare continue running. I guess she was too spooked to notice."

"You're lucky to be alive and with only a small bump." Aragorn replied and put some pasty stuff on my forehead that instantly made it feel better. "Where is your family? Your home? We will escort you back there before returning to Rivendell."

"I don't even know what I'm doing here." I told them avoiding the question. "I don't even know where here is. This isn't anywhere near where I was riding."

Aragorn frowned and looked to Elrohir. "We should get her back to Rivendell. Elrond will know what should be done with her." He said and they started packing up camp.

"Are you feeling well enough to ride? It's a couple hours yet to get there." Elrohir asked tightening the girth on a beautiful bay stallion. I got up slowly and tested everything before nodding. I looked to Aragorn's horse, a dark grey stallion.

"Who will I be riding with then?" I asked as the bay started prancing around irritably. I was seriously hoping it would be the gray stallion.

"You'll be riding with me. Alagos will not mind the extra weight." Aragorn said tightening the girth. "Alagos means Storm. Elrohir's horse is Faradrim, it means Hunter. Faradrim is young yet and still hasn't outgrown his coltish behavior. Alagos is much more matured and relaxed."

I went over and petted Alagos on the nose, letting him get my scent. I'm not much for grey horses but he had a sort of elegance to him that made him beautiful. Looking over at Faradrim I cautiously walked over, and standing next to him, petted him the same way I did Alagos. He gently nuzzled my hand and rubbed his head against my shoulder.

"Once I'm feeling better maybe I could take you out for a ride. We'll see just how 'Coltish' you really are." I whispered in his ear and he nodded his head in agreement. I smiled and wondered if he actually understood and responded to me or just being a horse.

"We should get going now Lady Winter." Elrohir said and climbed onto Faradrim's back, who instantly switched to being unruly. I hurried over to Alagos and climbed on before Aragorn could assist me. With a smirk he climbed on behind me and grabbed the reigns from my hand.

"Hold on Lady Winter." He whispered and took off after Elrohir at the smoothest gallop I had ever felt. It was as if I was flying instead of riding. I closed my eyes, let go of his mane and held my hands out to either side. I hadn't done this in years.

"How do you fare Lady Winter?" Aragorn asked in my ear. We had been riding at a gallop for at least a half hour now and my head had begun hurting once again. I didn't want to sound naggish but I did need a break if we weren't arriving in the next five minutes or less.

"My head is starting to hurt again." I turned my head slightly to talk to him and be heard. "If we could stop for just a few minutes I'd appreciate it. I know it's late, but I wouldn't ask if it wasn't necessary."

He gave me a small smile. "Lady Winter, all you have to do is ask. We don't mean to harm you more than you have already been. We can stop for a few minutes. Even elvish horses enjoy a break now and then."

He called out something to Elrohir in what must have been elvish, but sounded beautiful and elegant, and the elf lord pulled the reigns and whispered something in his horse's ear. The horse stopped instantly and he slid off. Patting Faladrim's neck he walked over to where we had stopped and the two of them 'helped' me off of Alagos. As if I needed it, then again maybe I did and didn't know it. Either way…

Aragorn slid off behind me and pulled something out of his saddle bag. It was a small silver flask of some sort. He handed it to me. I raised an eyebrow at him and took it hesitantly. "What is it?" I asked opening the flask. A small whiff told me it was something herbal.

"It will help your head. An Elvish remedy you could say." Aragorn said. I went to take a drink of it and he stopped me. "Just a sip or two will do. Too much and it'll make you sick."

I shrugged and took a sip. As soon as the liquid hit my throat it began to burn slightly and I started gagging and coughing. 'That was a mean trick to play." I thought as Aragorn grabbed the flask, closing it while Elrohir handed me a waterskin to drink from. I gulped down a mouthful of water before handing it back to him.

"If you feel better my lady I think we should get going." He said and the two of them shared a knowing smirk.

Who said elves don't have any humor.

**End Chapter 2!**

**Lune:** Okay so I didn't realize how short this chapter was so I will let you know now that I plan to increase the word count on all the chapters following this one. Please let me know what you think so far, until next time!


	3. Chapter 3: Welcome to Rivendell

**Lune:** Wow I can't believe it's been so long since I worked on this story. I do apologize and placed an explanation in my profile of what's been going on. Also, to add to the trouble I lost the original draft for this chapter because the computer it was on has been down for almost a year now.

So I also realized I didn't give much of a setting time wise in here. So I decided this chapter needed one. I will explain the dates at the end of the chapter. Anyways, on with the chapter!

**Chapter 3: Welcome to Rivendell!**

The sun was just setting as we rode through the gates of a beautiful kingdom. The light of the setting sun caused the main building to glow and reflect its light. I was in complete awe of the beauty surrounding me when we were greeted by another elf.

"Brother! Estel! You've returned, and with a guest." The elf called and I was stunned to see such likeness between him and Elrohir. Standing side by side I would never be able to tell them apart. Elrohir dropped off Faradrim and hugged the other elf.

"They're twins." Aragorn whispered in my ear as I watched. "The other one is Elladan. I can't remember the last time I saw those two apart for more than a moment. But here, let's get you down and inside where you can wash up and rest."

He slid off the back of Alagos and held my waist as I set my leg over and climbed down. A wave of dizziness caught me by surprise and I stumbled as my feet hit the ground. Luckily, Aragorn still had a grip on my waist and helped steady me. About this time Elrohir came over and gestured at me to his brother.

"Elladan, this is Lady Arianna Winter." He announced and I felt Aragorn's grip shift from my waist to my shoulders as my hand was lifted to the second elf's lips. I knew this was a traditional greeting from a gentleman to a lady but I still blushed hard enough my face must have looked like a cherry. "We found her earlier this day while Estel and I were scouting. I'm sorry you missed it, though there wasn't much excitement."

"Worry not about it, brother." Elladan said waving his brother's concerns away. "I had other things that concerned me at the time."

I felt Aragorn take my arm and whisper in my ear, though I had a feeling that it was more for my benefit than to keep something from the twins. "Come; let us get you taken care of. These two troublemakers can wait `til morning to cause any more trouble."

I chuckled and waved to the twins, who by this time had started arguing about something or other. "I hope to see you two again." I received a pair of quick farewells from the two as I was led through the doors.

Aragorn spoke to a female elf who directed us down a hall. I couldn't understand a word she said as the two of them spoke Elvish. I caught that Aragorn had thanked her and led me down several hallways and around a few corners before opening a door to a simple yet elegant room. I stood in awe for a moment as I looked over the room.

"I take it the room is to your liking?" Aragorn asked me from the doorway. I turned around to see a female elf hand him a bottle of something and a pitcher of water, though I wasn't sure if it was the same she-elf from before or not. Ignoring it I smiled at Aragorn.

"It's beautiful, thank you Aragorn." I told him hoping that I sounded grateful. My head was hurting again but I didn't want that to distract me from the beauty of Imladris. The books I had read just didn't seem to describe it properly. It was both more and less than what Tolkien's description was.

Aragorn closed the door until only a small gap could be seen. He set the pitcher and the bottle on the end table before pouring water into a wash basin. "Come, sit down and I'll tend to your wound properly."

He had been so kind even if it had come across as gruff to most people. Having grown up with nothing but males in my family and working with more of them, I got used to the way men said things. What I wasn't familiar with was how gentlemanly the men here seemed to be.

"Honestly Aragorn, it's just a bump on the head. I'll be okay without all this fuss." I told him. He gestured towards the bed again and hesitantly I went over and sat on the very edge of the bed, not wanting to get it any dirtier than necessary.

He used the clean water and a cloth to clean the dirt off my forehead, just over my eyebrow. I flinched a little at the surprising sting that came from the overly warm water. I heard him mutter an apology as he finished wiping off the dirt I somehow accumulated.

He seemed to examine the wound for several minutes before he shook his head. He did not seem happy about something. "Just a little bump," he muttered to himself as he pushed a few more straggly hairs out his way.

"You have a good cut here. It's small and easily overlooked but not so much that it needs much attention. I should have seen it sooner but I missed it on my initial examination. It blends in to the hairline so well." He said to me and let my hair drop back into my face for a moment.

"This is a special mixture, known only to the elves." Aragorn explained as he set the cloth down and opened the bottle. "It has the power to speed the healing of any injury no matter how small or large. It's easily made but only during the winter months does the plant that they harvest grow."

I listened as he put a small drop on his finger before rubbing it into the small cut that must have been on my head. Almost instantly the pain started to fade. Aragorn closed the bottle up again and wiped his hands on his pants. "It will still take a few more days to heal but it should feel better now."

I nodded to him. "Thank you Aragorn, you and the elves have been very kind." I said surprised at how meek I was able to sound. It just wasn't me, I was never meek. Hard headed, blunt, reckless, yes to all of the above, but never meek.

He set his hand on my head gently and smiled. "Worry not about it. You're in good hands here in Imladris. Get some rest and someone will be here to escort you to supper."

I smiled and nodded to him. With a quick farewell and an amused bow he left and I was alone. For the first time since I came to this place, I was completely alone.

I don't know what caused the realization to hit me or why I was struck so hard by it, but to know that I was alone in this strange new world without even my horse by my side made me feel lost and oh so small. I sat on the bed in a state of shock until someone knocked on my door.

I turned and opened the door to see a she-elf on the other side. In her hands were several dresses. She smiled at me and I moved back and invited her in. She introduced herself as Cyithrel and I numbly gave her my name.

It took a few moments to regain my self-control but as she set the dresses on the bed, she asked me something in what I assumed to be Elvish. I shook my head at her, wincing as the shaking caused my head to hurt again. "Sorry but I don't understand."

To my surprise she appeared to be embarrassed and repeated herself in Westron. "I was saying that Lord Elrond had requested your presence at supper this evening. Please choose a dress to wear. I apologize that they won't be an exact fit as they were a last minute selection."

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure that they will be fine for tonight. I don't need anything special." There were three dresses on the bed. The first was Midnight blue with a silvery lilac lacing and borders. The second was a dark red with emerald colored accents. The third was a soft pastel purple with gold accents. I grabbed the midnight blue one and decided to wear it for the night.

"If you please I will have a bath drawn for you and some tea." Cyithrel said as she pulled on a cord by the bed. "After we have you ready everything should be ready in the hall."

After a few minutes I was in the bath and letting Cyithrel wash my hair, since the elf had insisted, and began to think about things. It wasn't long before water came over me and the soap was being washed out of my hair. Once the rest of me was washed and rinsed Cyithrel held out a towel and rubbed my skin until it felt raw and was shining a bright pink.

I was quickly dressed up, and despite her protests, I thought the dress fit wonderfully. I was standing in front of the floor length mirror, trying to decide what to do with my hair, when Cyithrel brought over a chair and gently forced me into it. Looking at our reflections I saw her produce a brush and a comb out of what appeared to be nowhere.

With a small chuckle to myself I sat as still as I could while she removed any tangles and styled my hair. It appeared as if the top half was pulled back and a small braid sat on the remaining hair that was left loose.

"There." She said tying the braid off with some kind of ribbon she had pulled from the vanity table drawer. There was a small mirror on the table as well but it just wasn't big enough to give an accurate view of my ensemble. "That shall do until we can arrange for better clothing. Come, let us get to supper."

I stood up and followed her. "Thank you." I told her as we walked down the hallways. This time I noticed elegant paintings every so often placed on the walls. I focused on memorizing each set of paintings so I could find my way around later. "You really didn't have to go through all this work for me."

She laughed and it sounded strangely beautiful, like steady rain on a tin roof. That is, if rain could be captured in her voice. "Think nothing of it. You area a guest of Lord Elrond and Lord Estel, it is only fitting that we see to your needs during your stay."

I didn't know what to say to her so I stopped talking and stared at the pictures as we traveled the rest of the way to the dining hall. I wondered just what the room would look like and what kinds of foods would be available.

We walked around two more corners before arriving at a set of large, double doors. Cyithrel opened a door effortlessly and stepped aside to let me pass. Instantly the chatter from the room flooded my senses. I looked at the group that had settled in for supper and was amazed at the vast amount of elves that were among us.

I must have looked dazed because Cyithrel grabbed my hand and led me to a table in the middle that went from the door to the opposite wall while the many other tables were perpendicular to this one. Once we reached the opposite end and she bowed to someone I looked at the head of the table at what must have been Lord Elrond, Lady Arwen, the twins, Gandalf and Aragorn.

I forced myself to stop gawking at the royalty in front of me and performed a clumsy curtsy. Not sure what to say my breath caught in my throat. I was saved from looking utterly foolish by a solid but beautiful voice. "Welcome to Rivendell. I am pleased to see you are well."

I looked up at the speaker to see that it was the elf that I believed to be Elrond. "Th…thank you my lord for allowing me to stay here so unexpectedly." I stuttered. I wasn't sure how exactly I was supposed to address him so I decided that the less said the better.

"You are more than welcome here." He responded gently and introduced the others around him. I found that I was right about his guests, though I was curious to what the date was. If I had arrived before the fellowship formed then that would explain Gandalf's presence but that didn't tell me how long.

After a moment of responding to introductions, and a few jokes from the twins, I was led to a vacant seat next to Aragorn. After a short discussion about food, he helped me select several items to try that would not be too overpowering for a human's taste buds.

Even the meat had a sweet honey flavor to it and left me munching on some fruit by the end of dinner. Aragorn gave me a small smile as he noticed my lack of eating and handed me a goblet full of water. It was sweet but not too sweet. I thanked him and drank half of the goblet before being able to return to my fruit.

By the end of the meal I had been asked several questions. Some I answered easily while others were a little harder to explain. Some questions I just avoided completely. Throughout the conversation I discovered that it was May of the year 3013. That was nearly five years before Gandalf returns to Hobbiton to ask Frodo about the ring if I remembered correctly.

I had never been very thorough on reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I enjoyed the story but I never got very in depth with the dates or extra history that was added into it. And you could forget all the extra books written! I tried reading several but always found myself picking up the original trilogy instead.

Supper lasted for nearly another hour and in that time the group managed to weasel out a bit of information from me. I was somehow set up with a list of activities to enjoy during my stay with them. I was overwhelmed at the idea of archery, sword training, riding lessons, gardening and the list goes on.

I wasn't nearly surprised when Lord Elrond asked to speak to me in his rooms when we were finished. As I wasn't used to the palate set before me, it wasn't long before I rose to go clean up. Cyithrel led me back to the rooms so I had a chance to refresh myself and then escorted me to Lord Elrond's receiving room.

I wasn't looking forward to the meeting but I knew it was inevitable. I knocked on the door and awaited his invitation. Cyithrel left me at the door once it was opened and said that someone would escort me back to my room afterwards. I thanked her and entered hesitantly.

"Ah, Lady Arianna, I'm pleased that you could join us." Gandalf said excitedly. I was startled that he, Aragorn, Arwen and an unfamiliar elf were waiting in the room with Lord Elrond.

"Thank you Master Gandalf." I muttered in response, once again attempting my hand at an awkward curtsy. "I wasn't expecting to see so many people here."

The last elf in the room was introduced as Glorfindel and we shared a short greeting with each other before matters were returned to the initial reason for summoning me to the room.

"Yes, well," Lord Elrond spoke up and I turned my attention to him. "Estel has told us of how he found you and your version of the situation. I believe that there is something interesting happening that is highly unexpected."

I didn't know what to say. I should have known better than to try and hide my identity from a group of people who were virtually immortal. I tried acting as if it were some mistake but a few harsh words from both Elrond and Gandalf, accompanied by a frown from Aragorn, and silenced me in moments.

"Alright…I can't tell you everything but I can tell you some of what is going on." I said. I paused for a moment as the group accepted that I would give them as much information as possible. I was hoping I was doing the right thing, but there was only one way to find out.

I started out telling them things that had already come to pass such as Bilbo's adventure with the dwarves. About the tie I was done, tea had arrived and I sipped at mine before continuing. After I got through the events of Bilbo's birthday and him leaving everything to Frodo did they start to really believe me.

I gave them a few vague details of some things to come but left out names, times and end results. I was very careful to not give out information that could drastically alter the course of the fellowship. When I had given all I believed I could I began with my story.

"…then lightning struck, my horse spooked and I ended up hitting my head. When I awoke, I was in a forest being looked after by Aragorn and your son. The rest you know." I said looking at Lord Elrond.

For the next few minutes the room was silent. I started to fidget in my chair as I waited for someone to say something. Suddenly Gandalf spoke, causing me to nearly jump out of my chair. "It is dangerous for one to have such knowledge of the future. This being even more so when this future is not of even of one's own world."

I nodded sadly. "I know. I don't even know why I was sent here. It could be to keep certain events from happening or even to make sure events go on track as they were meant to. Until certain things happen, I have no way of knowing this purpose."

I felt like crying at how stupid my situation was. It wasn't fair that I knew their future held a happy ending and couldn't tell them. It was then that Glorfindel spoke, pulling me out of my sad thoughts. "What did you say the writer's name was?"

I startled for a minute at his question. He had remained silent throughout the time I had been there, never saying a word since introductions were made between us. "Tolkien. I don't know his full name, though I probably have heard it a bunch of times, but the author's name is J.R.R. Tolkien."

Something flashed in his face and I knew that he had heard that name before. "Yes," Lord Elrond said. "That name does sound familiar. It was ages ago but I remember the name vaguely."

The conversation continued between Gandalf, Glorfindel and Lord Elrond. Through the conversation I discovered that Tolkien had arrived, accidently of course, during the creation of Middle Earth. There was a short mention of him during their history but nothing of major importance.

The three theorized that during the time the fate of Middle Earth was being sung, Tolkien saw the future and was amazed enough that he wrote down the events he had seen. They also suggested that the Valar took pity on him and returned him to his own world shortly after.

Needless to say, I was shocked. It was amazing enough that the world from a book was real, but to discover that they had knowledge of the writer was amazing.

"Excuse me," I squeaked out, but everyone in the room outside me had super hearing so they heard me clear as day. Once I had their attention I continued. "Wouldn't that mean that the future isn't exactly as Tolkien wrote it down? Even if he retain an exact memory of the events it doesn't mean that those events are the only thing that happened are they? Also, that's assuming that he didn't change events to suite the readers desires or even his own."

They paused and considered her view on things. Again they began conversing and after about an hour of discussion they had decided that it was best for Arianna to keep silent about events that may or may not happen. Only once an event occurred would she be released and able to speak of Tolkien's version of events. It was agreed upon and all were released to go about their evenings.

**End Chapter 3!**

**Lune**: Oh this took me forever to finish lol but I'm glad I did. I want to get to the actually storyline. Hopefully after that I can start writing more of the story faster. And just so everyone knows, I believe its April of the year 3018 of the Third Age that the events beginning the ring's journey begins. This is the date that Gandalf sends Frodo and Samwise on their journey. So please expect a small time jump in the next chapter to accommodate this. Enjoy!


	4. Chapter 4: The search for Gollum

**Lune: Sorry this took so long, the holidays were very chaotic and a bit stressful. Originally I was going to sort of mention a bit of the search for Gollum. Instead of starting the actual trilogy I ended up enhancing the bond between Aragorn and Arianna. Hopefully everyone likes as I had to do a lot of research and correcting to get this chapter as accurate as possible. Some minor things have changed and I improvised a bit on controversial areas, such as the timeline, but it's pretty accurate to the information I found on my search.**

**Chapter 4: The search for Gollum**

After my first night in Rivendell I had taken a look at my last treasures from home that had been in my bag. There wasn't much that would survive long but I did have my ocarina that I carried everywhere with me, a knife that was the length of my forearm that I had received for my birthday that year and small jewelry box that I had forgotten had been slipped in my bag. It contained a set of opal earrings with a matching ring and necklace. These treasures weren't much in the grand scheme of things but they were a part of my first home and I kept them with me at all times.

It had been five years since I had come to stay at Rivendell and every day was spent training and studying. I was nearly an expert at playing the ocarina and could easily play a vast number of songs from memory. I now knew a few plants that can be used to heal certain wounds out in the field.

Defending myself with a sword had become much easier, though I still had no hope of besting those around me due to my lack of experience. My bow training was outstanding enough that I could defeat a few of the elves within a certain range. Of course, with their eyesight they still had better judgment on long distance shots and horseback. And I got to ride the horses nearly every day.

After my first year of being in Middle Earth, Aragorn asked Lord Elrond for one of their elvish horses. He gave me a colt with a fiery red coat, black mane and tail. There was even a white star on his forehead in the rough shape of a flame and his legs were black all the way to his knees. His name was instantly decided, Urúvion. It meant "Fiery" in Sindarian.

As for my relationship with Aragorn, when it was obvious that I wasn't going to be returning home any time soon, he took on a fatherly role. Once in a while I would join him on scouting missions and he would teach me basic tracking techniques and ways to disappear into the forests and scenery. It was always amusing for me to get the rare drop on him.

But now had come the day that training was ending and our journey was beginning. Aragorn and I were scouring the Dead Marshes in search of the creature Gollum. As my skills were improving a bit Aragorn started taking me on more and more missions.

This one, though of great importance, was one such mission and he felt he could use the help. Aragorn had been hunting for the last year to find Gollum and, now that he had gained a lead from a fellow ranger, he had found the creature's location.

It was the first day of February and we had been following signs of Gollum in multitudes of places. We had set a trap to catch the poor creature the night before and woke to the sound of the trap's release. Both of us were relieved to have caught Gollum and quickly tied his hands together, throwing the creature into a sack so he had no hope of escaping.

"It's about time we caught him." I muttered as we set Gollum behind Aragorn. The ranger smiled at my halfhearted complaint. Neither of us enjoyed the Dead Marshes but he was a bit more accustomed to the place.

He finished tying the sack to his saddle and spurred his horse into a steady trot. The faster we handed Gollum over to the elves the happier everyone would be. "Tis not my favorite place either. But at least we are now free to leave and visit the Mirkwood Realm. They are better equipped to manage such a slippery being."

I shivered at the thought. I had heard a few rumors about Mirkwood but was too afraid of the truth to actually ask. Now I felt I had no choice unless I wanted to freeze in the heat of battle. "Father," I said, my voice only shaking a bit. "Are there really giant spiders in Mirkwood?"

The ranger smiled, he had apparently forgotten my 'irrational' fear of even small spiders. Now he was asking me to travel into an area that was not only inhabited by spiders the size of a horse but in their ideal hunting grounds. This particular breed of spider hunts through tracking and ambush. Trees only made their job easier.

"Fear not." He told me over Gollum self-muttering. "Prince Legolas himself is to meet us at the edge of the forest for the exchange. You have no cause to face any of those creatures any time soon. We'll travel along the East side of the Anduin River until we meet the Forest River."

"Very well Father." I said a little more confidently. As part of my studies, I examined and memorized as many maps of Middle Earth as I could find. At the slow pace that we would be forced to take, it would be a month that we were stuck with Gollum at best.

For several days we travelled and twice were attacked by orcs. The first group was a small hunting party and the two of us were able to defeat them in minutes. It was several days later when we crossed a larger group near the forest of Lorien that problems arose.

Despite the danger, an orc archer hid in a very sparse group of trees and rocks and fired upon us. Taken by surprise we were relatively unharmed but the arrow left a deep cut across my left shoulder. Before we could flee to the safety of the Lorien borders, we were surrounded and forced to fight.

Aragorn whispered something to his horse and charged at a closely packed group of orcs. I was forced to grit my teeth as I gripped the reigns with my left hand. I drew my sword and did my best to guard him. We were quickly separated and I was thrown from my horse. The stallion decided to attack an orc behind him as I was leaning forward to behead an orc on my right. The result was me on the ground and surrounded.

The horse continued to fight his way free, having been trained for battle, while I fought on the ground. It didn't take long for the battle to finish and we were victorious, but the arrow that had hit me was poisoned.

"Father!" I called out as I painstakingly climbed back onto my horse after checking him for injuries. Aragorn was on the other side of the pile of corpses when he heard me. Holding the bag containing Gollum, he jumped his horse over the pile and hurried to my side.

"Are you hurt?" He asked and began inspecting me. He approached from my right so he couldn't see the arrow wound on my left. I sighed and turned Urúvion around so he could see the mark. He placed his bay stallion next to mine and grabbed my arm. "You need treatment as soon as possible."

We were still at least half a day's ride from Lorien. We piled up the orc bodies and set them to burn before moving away from the stench. The land around us was not at risk for wildfire so it was safe to leave the pile smoldering as we set up camp a few miles upriver.

By the time we had camp set, Gollum secured and the horses settled, a fine sheen of sweat had laced my body. Aragorn had set a small pot of water to boil and threw some dried herbs into it. The smell permeated the camp and created a calming effect. I was nearly asleep by the time Aragorn sat down next to me. Tiredly I opened my eyes.

"You'll be alright little one." He whispered and helped me remove jacket and outer shirt so he could work. After cleaning the wound itself he determined that stitching wasn't necessary, to my relief, but the poison was starting to take hold.

He handed me a cup of tea and ordered me to drink. Reluctantly I downed the tea and chased it with a long drink of water from my water skin. The stuff was horrid and I didn't fancy another bout of it any time soon. As I put down the skin he returned with some green, pasty substance.

"This won't feel pleasant but it should draw out the poison." He told me and placed the salve onto the wound. The irritating, burning sensation caught me by surprise and it took a moment to realize that he was speaking. He was saying something about the plant that he used to make it and where it could be found. As the burning subsided, I let go of his sleeve. I didn't remember grabbing ahold of it but I must have at some point.

"Aragorn," I muttered as he wrapped my arm. "You bedside manner sucks. Unpleasant was a terrible understatement and to top it off, I didn't hear a word you said about that plant."

This earned a chuckle out of him as he tied off the bandage and helped me back into my jacket. By the time dinner was finished I couldn't keep my eyes open and passed out on my bed roll.

The next day, I was sadly disappointed to find that we couldn't stay with the elves for any length of time. We stopped long enough for Haldir to resupply us with traveling foods and some fresh fruit for the road, and for Aragorn to check my bandages one last time.

Haldir seemed to find much amusement in the fact that Aragorn had adopted a girl like me. He never failed to tease the ranger about it and even gave me a hard time once. I told him that had I been feeling better, he wouldn't be so inclined to tease such a great man. The elf laughed, restocked our supplies and sent us on our way.

It was nearly two weeks later when we reached the edge of Mirkwood. With the promise of reaching Legolas the day after next, I was in better spirits. The wound on my arm had healed and we had run into no more trouble since leaving Lorien.

The next morning we packed up camp and headed to our meeting place. We had only been traveling for an hour and would meet the elves a couple hours before sunset. As Aragorn and I were discussing different things about the area, trees, plants, animals, a chill went down my back.

Aragorn didn't even speak; he just grabbed Urúvion's reigns and dragged us into the edge of the forest. Overhead was a shadow and a loud screech echoed through the trees. Urúvion sidestepped as both horses danced in fear. After the shadow passed I let out the breath I had been holding.

"What was that creature?" I asked, afraid to know the answer. We waited a few minutes more, traveling in the safety of the trees.

"A ringwraith." He answered and shook his head. "They are searching for Gollum. They want to know what knowledge he has of the one ring. They must not find it, no matter what."

He turned his head and I could feel the power of his stare boring into my soul. I knew he meant that it didn't matter what it took, we had to protect the ring and the secrets surrounding it. I shook my head as my eyes watered. "I will not let them take you if that's what you are wanting." I growled and kicked my horse into a steady trot, pulling away from my closest friend.

"Ari!" He called and I stopped, turning my horse to look at him. He opened his mouth to say something and jerked in his saddle. He turned to face his attacker and I could see a dart sticking out of his back, near his shoulder.

"Father!" I cried and kicked Urúvion into full speed just as a small troop of orcs came out of the trees. It was a rough battle, keeping them away from our prisoner but we somehow managed. Aragorn was suffering from the effects of the poison that was in the dart but we had to get away. We were only able to travel for about an hour before he fell from his horse.

I stopped and rushed to his side. His face was covered in sweat and his breathing was labored. "Father, hold on. I'll get us some help, we aren't that far from the Mirkwood party." I cooed to him, begging him to hold on.

I was surprised to hear him chuckling. Confused I asked what could be so funny. He grabbed a handful of the plants he had landed on. It was a bed of weeds with little white flowers dotting the stems. He held the plant under my nose for a moment. "Of all the places to fall, I find a bed of Athelas flowers." He muttered as his eyes closed.

It took a moment to register but I remembered something about the plant. It took a strong whiff of the plant before I could even think about what it was. It clicked and I grabbed a clean batch of leaves, chewed then and placed the spread on his shoulder over the place the dart hit. After a moment this seemed to help a little.

After tending to the man who took me in and taught me everything I knew about Middle Earth, I went to check on Gollum only to find him gone. I started searching desperately but returned to Aragorn's side just as the sun began to set.

Touching his face I was torn between getting him to the safety of the elves and searching more for Gollum. Before a decision could be made Aragorn made a noise and woke up. He seemed to be better than he had been when I went off to search but not by much.

"Gollum has escaped." I said quietly as I helped him sit up. He held his head and took a moment to remember what had happened. Using my shoulder to help him stand he started to follow the same trail I had seen earlier.

"We must find him." He muttered. I watched him struggle to stand upright and search for the creature. We found him a few minutes later hidden in a tree.

"It comes." He rasped to us and shifted his position in the branches until he was harder to see. "The shadow comes for us."

It only took a moment longer to weasel out of him that the shadow was indeed the ringwraith we had seen earlier. At some point it had circled back around and was now intent on snatching it's prize. Before we could get Gollum back under control we were attacked.

As I captured Gollum once again, Aragorn somehow held off the wraith. I returned the sack to the horse and double checked that it was tied tightly this time before heading off to help. I nearly didn't make it as I watched the wraith pull back his sword and struck a killing blow towards the weakened ranger.

"No!" I cried out and watched as a bright light blinded the wraith and chased him off. I rushed to Aragorn's side as he collapsed to the ground. All the movement and fighting had cancelled out the power of the athelas and the poison had once again began to spread. Calling his name as I held him it wasn't until he closed his eyes and grabbed my hand tightly before drifting to sleep. Desperately I checked his breathing and heart to find that they were still functioning properly.

Relieved I called over the horses in Elvish. Using a trick that I had played with before, I had Urúvion drop to the ground and dragged the taller, heavier man over the back of the horse. I then helped hold him into place as I told the horse to rise. It was a rough minute but we got everyone settled. I took the other horse and we left in a full gallop, stopping for nothing.

The sun was just setting as we met the elves. I saw Prince Legolas riding at full speed towards us and watched as he knocked an arrow to his bow. The feathers of the arrow missed my cheek by a hair and I heard a grunt behind me. I didn't bother looking behind me; just felt the urge to rush to safety. Spurring the horses to go faster we past the charging elves and reached safety in record time.

After a few minutes rest, the group of elves had returned to where we were waiting. I slid off the horse and passed the sack containing Gollum over to the nearest one. "Here's the creature." I panted, nearly on the verge of tears now that we were relatively safe. "Please, save him."

Prince Legolas reached my side. I had met him once before when father had taken me to Mirkwood to visit the elves there. He wrapped an arm around me as I struggled not to break down. "Shh, he'll be alright. You got him to us in time." He whispered in my ear.

I leaned against him trying to believe his words. He whispered in Elvish to me and I understood some of what he had said but not enough to follow along well. Legolas waited for me to regain my composure before leading me to their nearby safe house.

Legolas shut the door behind us and set me down in a chair near the door. I could see Aragorn on a bed near the other side of the room. The athelas had slowed the poison enough for us to arrive for help but I had no way to be sure he would be safe. Right now I could see the sweat on his face as he moaned and lay on the bed restlessly.

Something blocked my view as the elves started cleaning the wound. I looked up to see Legolas in front of me with a bowl of water, a rag and a cup of what must have been tea in it. "Drink this." He said handing me the cup. "Aragorn will be fine, let's get those wounds of yours tended to."

I was surprised as I hadn't realized that I had been hurt. Looking down I saw that I had a multitude of small nicks and scratches along my body from the battle. Legolas assured me again that Aragorn would be fine come morning and insisted that I stay the night. After getting bandaged, cleaned up and having a light dinner, I settled down in one of the beds and let myself fall asleep.

I woke the next morning just before the sun rose above the horizon. Looking around I saw the elves were not in the room with us and dragged myself out of bed. Quietly I made my way over to the bed Aragorn had been placed in and looked at him.

He was looking much better than the night before. The elves had washed his face and healed him, leaving him looking the best I had seen him in over two months. Gently I brushed a random strand of hair from his face. He muttered something before drifting back into a heavy sleep.

Satisfied he was going to be just fine I grabbed my ocarina out of my bag and headed outside. Looking around I still didn't see any of the elves so I found a hollowed out spot at the base of a nearby tree and sat down. Lifting the ocarina to my lips I started off with a simple and low song.

After a short time I expanded my music to something more upbeat and happier. I was nearly to the end of the song when I heard something to my right. Knowing Legolas and his warriors were nearby I didn't worry and finished my song. Done, I set the ocarina to my lap to see Aragorn leaning against the doorway of the hut while several elves were scattered, just listening to the music.

Embarrassed I quickly returned my ocarina to its protective case and stood up. I dusted off the back of my pants and turned to them as if I hadn't been putting part of myself into the wind instrument. Nodding to the elves I strode over to Aragorn and stopped inches from him.

"Good morning Little One." He smiled at me. I smiled back, resisting the urge to hit him for worrying me.

"Good morning father." I said and in the blink of an eye I had my arms around him in a tight hug. Hesitantly he set his arms around my shoulders and hugged me back for a moment before forcing me to step back. I felt someone move behind me and heard Legolas speaking to Aragorn in Elvish. He didn't say anything in return but I felt a movement before he lifted my chin to face him.

I knew my face was dry and tear free but there was no hiding the worry and concern that I held for him. He made sure I was looking him in the eyes before speaking. "I'm sorry for worrying you. You have impressed me with your quick wit and ingenuity. If not for you I would never have survived the attack. Thank you…daughter."

I wrapped my arms around him for a split second before turning to gather the horses. Half turning my head I called to him over my shoulder. "You ever scare me like that again and you will regret it." I promised. I smiled as I heard him and the others chuckling at my threat.

It was an hour later that we were fed, bandages changed, horses tacked up and packs were settled. We were ready to head back to Imladris. With well wishes from our new friends, and promises of guarding Gollum, we started the long journey back home.

**End Chapter 4!**

**Lune**: so what did you think? I put some information in to fill in the gaps and I'll address her knowledge of the story further down the line. My idea was to have her there long enough that she forgets the story and gets nagging feelings during major events. Please enjoy and review because reviews make me happy. Thanks to everyone who reviewed and favorites/alerted my story. ^-^

See you all soon!


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